APNewsBreak: Most Ala. firms miss immigration goal

FILE - This 2007 file photo shows Bumper Nets owner Homer Brown, whose business in Hoover, Ala., is among the employers that have complied with a new requirement under Alabama's immigration law, that all business entities in the state register with the federal E-Verify system. Statistics show that thousands of employers failed to meet the April 1 deadline for registering with the system. (AP Photo/The Birrmingham News, Hal Yeager, File)
— AP

FILE - This 2007 file photo shows Bumper Nets owner Homer Brown, whose business in Hoover, Ala., is among the employers that have complied with a new requirement under Alabama's immigration law, that all business entities in the state register with the federal E-Verify system. Statistics show that thousands of employers failed to meet the April 1 deadline for registering with the system. (AP Photo/The Birrmingham News, Hal Yeager, File)
/ AP

PELHAM, Ala. 
Tens of thousands of Alabama businesses have missed a deadline set by the state's strict immigration law to register with a federal database used to verify the citizenship status of job applicants, according to registration numbers.

Some companies said they didn't know about the requirement that they use E-Verify to check on new employees, or didn't think it applied to them. Others rushed to fill out the Internet-based registration in the days before the April 1 deadline.

Failing to register doesn't result by itself in charges or fines, but using the system affords employers legal protection in certain cases if they are found to employ illegal immigrants. State officials and industry groups are urging more employers to complete the free registration.

"Right now we're not penalizing businesses. We're trying to help them, to be a safe harbor," said Katheryn Kennedy, a spokeswoman for the Alabama Department of Homeland Security.

The immigration crackdown signed into law last year gave every Alabama employer or business entity until the start of this month to enroll in E-Verify, which is run by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Businesses also are required to begin using the system to check immigration status.

Companies that hire illegal immigrants face penalties including the loss of their business license. To encourage registration, businesses have legal protection if they screened a worker with E-Verify and the person checked out OK but was later determined to be living in the country illegally.

Citizenship and Immigration Services said only 18,137 companies had enrolled in the E-Verify system by Monday, a fraction of the total of employers in the state. There was a late surge of about 4,000 registrations last week, said Bill Wright, a spokesman for the agency in Washington.

The Alabama Department of Revenue said last year's tax returns showed there were 368,613 companies doing business in the state, and that doesn't include public employers like city or county governments. Gov. Robert Bentley's office said the state Department of Industrial Relations counts only 85,000 companies with employees in the state. Some of the discrepancy could be explained by companies doing business in the state with employees who are based elsewhere.

But it's unclear exactly how many businesses are required to register, a sign of continuing confusion over the law. Legislators are also tweaking the law after courts blocked some provisions in response to lawsuits by the Obama administration and others.

While the law says "every business entity or employer in this state shall enroll in E-Verify," Bentley spokesman Jeremy King wasn't able to say Tuesday which employers must register.

"That's for the lawyers to figure out," he said.

The state, like others with similar laws, promoted the requirement through news releases, seminars and websites; and some local governments sent notices to vendors and business license holders. Registration only takes a few minutes and the state has a telephone hotline to assist small companies with registration.

At Carpet Outlet, a family-run business in suburban Birmingham, Cathy McKay had a stack of paperwork on her desk that she received from county government and the local school system about the illegal immigration law, but she has yet to fill them out and hadn't registered with E-Verify.